sceibner



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

O. E. SCRIBNBR. REGULATOR FOR DYNAMO ELECTRIC MACHINES.

No. 484,611. Patented Oct. 18, 1892.

(No Mbdel.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. E. SGRIBNER. REGULATOR .POR DYNAMO ELECTRIC MACHINES.

Patented Oct. 18,1892.

(No-Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

- 0. E. SCRIBNER.

REGULATOR FOR DYNAMO ELECTRIC MACHINES. No. 484,611. Patented Oct. 18, 1892.

I IzUmZor-u 4, Z 4 WW (5% M fi fi /zwzz dZZZrm: norms versus cm, movumnct, mamsamu. u. c.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. SCRIBNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE IVESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

REGULATOR FOR DYNAMO-ELEOTRIC MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 484,611, dated October 18, 1892.

Application filed May 5, 1890. Serial No. 350,547. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: action of such mechanically-driven mechan- Be it known that I, CHARLEs E. SCRIBNER, ism with respect to its engagement or action 55 a citizen of the United States, residing at Chiupon the brushes. Increase of magnetism cago, in the county of Cook and State of Illiof the armature-shaft changes the position of nois, have invented a certain new and usethe armature of the regulating mechanism ful Improvement in Current-Regulators for presented thereto to cause the brushes to be Dynamo-Electric Machines, (Case No.217,) of moved forwardthat is, in. a direction to di- 60 which the following isa full, clear, concise, minish the currentwhile decrease of magand exact description,reference being had to netic power of the armature-shaft permits to the accompanying drawings, formingapart of the armature presented thereto to be moved this specification. by the force of its retractile spring, so as to Where dynamo-electric machines are used cause the brushes to be moved backwardly or 6 5 to supply acircuit under a variable load-as, in a direction to increase the current. for example, in arc-lighting, it being neces- In the drawings which are illustrative of my [5 sary to maintain the current strength pracinvention, Figure l is a front elevation of a tically uniform-automatic current -reguladynamo-electric machine provided with my tors are required. regulator. Fig. 2 is a view showing the arma- 7o I-Ieretofore various forms of automatic regucure-shaft in section, the brush-carrier mountlators have been employed,their construction ed upon the machine in the position of maxibeing such that any change in the load will mum current and my automatic regulator for be automatically compensated for by changcontrolling the position of the brush carrier ing the electro-motive force, correspondingly responsively to variations in the magnetic 75 increasing the electro-motive force automatiforce of the armature-shaft. Fig. 3 is a side cally when the work is increased, and diminelevation of my regulator applied to a dyna- 2 5 ishing the electro-motive force when the work 1110 electric machine. Fig. t is a detailed is lessened, as by cutting out aportion of the view of the pawl-and-ratchet engagement betranslating devices-as, for example, arc tween the regulator and the brush-carrier. 8o lamps, Fig. 5 is an isometric view showing the opera- My invention herein relates to that class tion of the tripping mechanism. Fig.6 shows 0 of regulators in which the collecting-brushes a top and side view of the adjustable catch are automatically shifted backward and formounted upon its arm in connection with the ward to increase and decrease the electrohook which controls the step-by-step move- 85 motive force. ment of the regulator.

When a dynamo-electric machine is in op- Like parts are indicated by similar letters 3 5 oration, its armature-shaft, being of iron, eX- of reference throughout the different figures.

erts two kinds of power, one power being me- The armature-shaft a of the dynamo-elecchanical and the other power being magnetic. tric machine 'is driven in the direction indi- 90 The novel feature of my invention hereinv is cated in Fig. 1. making use of the variations in the magnetic W'e will consider the brushes, as shown in 40 power of the armature-shaft caused by vari- Fig. 1, in position to produce the electro-moations in the current strength as the load is tive force required underordinary conditions. increased or diminished to automatically con- Movement of the brushes backward increases 5 trol the mechanical power acting upon the the electro-motive force and movement of the brushes, so that the brushes will be moved brushesforward diminishes the electro-motive forward automatically when the load or reforce, and thus, as is well known in this type sistance is decreased and backward when the of machines, the current may be maintained load is increased, so as to hold the current practically constant under a greater or less I00 practically uniform under such variations in load by shifting the brushes in the proper dithe load. Vith this end in view I provide, rection.

in connection with the shaft, an armature As shown in Fig. l, the bruslrcarrier is conconnected by suitable mechanism with the nected with a dash-pot and is weighted so as mechanically-driven mechanism which acts totendto shiftthebrushesbaclnvard. Brushr05 upon the rotating brush-carrier to control the carriers heretofore have been thus counterbal anced by a spring or weight, so as to tend to move in one direction, and a regulating device has been employed to act in opposition to the constant force tending to thus move the brushcarrier. Itisbyautomatically varyingorcontrolling the power which acts in opposition to this constant tendency of the brushes to move in one direction that the brushes are shifted to maintain constant-currentstrength. This I accomplish through the iustru mentalities of an armature and tripping mechanism connected therewith, so arranged that increase of the magnetic force of the armature-shaft will cause the brushes to be moved in a direction to diminish the electro-motive force until the current, and consequently the magnetic force of the armature-shaft, is brought back to its normal.

Aforce opposing the constant force or tendency of the brushes to move in a givendirection has been heretofore automatically con trolled for the purpose of current-regulation. This, however, has not been accomplished through the influence or magnetism of the shaft of the machine acting upon a movable or pivoted armature, and I thereore do not limit my invention to the special mechanism herein described, but claim in connection therewith the method of utilizing the magnetic force of the shaft of the machine for the purpose of current-regulation. The force which is thus controlled may be obtained, as illustrated herein, from the shaft of the driven armature by any suitable mechanical means; but I do not limit my invention to any particular source of power in this regard.

A Worm Z) upon the shaft is shown engaging with the pinion 0, thus keeping the cam d in motion. It is the engagement of this cam with the bearing-surface of the arm e which communicates power to the brush-carrier to move the same, and by regulating the action of this cam upon the bearing-surface I control the position of the brushes, since this arm 6 is connected with the shaft f of the ratchet device. (For detail of a ratchet device see Fig. 4.) That is to say, as the arm e is moved a greater or less amount the ratchet engages with the brush-carrier to move the same forward or to simply hold the same and counterbalance its tendency to move backward, while in case the shaft 6 is held so far from the cam as not to be acted thereon the ratchet will be disengaged from the brush-carrier and permit the brush-carrier to moved backward. Thus it may be said there are three positions of the vibrating arm ewithrespcct to the cam d. First, the arm 6 may be held without the range of the cam, so as to prevent the force derived from the cam from being exerted in any manner upon the brush-carrier; second, the arm may be within range of the cam, but only near enough to the same to receive a short stroke, in which case the force exerted upon the bruslrcarrier will be simply in the nature of a counterbalance force to hold the brushes in a given position, and this may be considered as the normal condition-that is, the current being established and the load remaining constant, the brushes should remain in the same position; third, the arm a may be in such proximity to the cam as to have a full stroke or vibration imparted thereto at each revolution of the cam. Such strokes will correspondingly move the shaft f, and the pawl of the ratchet will thus be moved correspondingly, so as to engage with the teeth of the rack, thus imparting positive movement to the brush-carrier to move the brushes forward.

I controlthe relation of the arm e to thecam (Z through the instrumentality of the pivoted armature g as acted upon by the magnetic- .force of the armature-shaft ct, and thereby automatically regulate the strength of the current to maintain the same practically uniform.

The armature g is provided with or carries a hook or detent It. Now when this hook is entirely removed from the path of the catches of the vibrating arm 6 this arm 6 will be drawn up by the spring t',so as to receive its longest stroke or vibration. This condition is shown in Fig. 2. \Vhen the hook is in the condition shown most clearly in the lower view of Fig. 0, the arm will be given its short or intermediate stroke, and again when this hook it is carried into the path of the upper catch or upper step of the catch of arm 6 the said arm will be held down away from the cam (Z, so that no movement will be imparted to the shaftf and the ratchet will be disengaged from the brush-carrier and leave the brushcarrier free to move backward in response to the Weight, or whatever the constant force may be.

The armature g is pivoted at 7:. and is connected in any suitable manner with the hook or detent 72, as shown. The pivot 7a of the armature g is in the form of a shaft, and upon this shaft is mounted the arm Z, which is connected by the link on with the detent h. Any suitable medium of connection may be used between the armature g and the pivoted hook h, or whatever may be the trigger device employed to control and regulate the position of the arm. A retractile spring tends to hold the end of the armature g opposite the shaft ct away from the same, and adjusting screws are provided for limiting the stroke of the armature g. The hook h is adjusted to be brought into the path of the catch of arm 6 through the force of a spring 77/ or otherwise. The rotation or movement of the armature g under the influence of the attractive force of armature-shaft ct acts in opposition to the force of spring n to withdraw hook 7t from the path of the catch or catches provided upon arm 6.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the armature g is shown drawn towardthe shaft a, thus removing the trigger device or detent 7t from the path of the arm 6, and therefore said arm a is brought into such relation with the revolving cam cl as to be given its longest stroke at each revolution of the cam. In this manner the pawl 0, as shown in Fig. 4, is caused to take the notches provided on the segment connected with the brush-carrier, and thus the brushes are carried forward step by step until the electro-motive force is reduced, so as to correspondingly lessen the magnetic force of the shaft or to permit the armature g to recede, say, until the hook it is carried to the position indicated in Figs. 5 and 6, or the intermediate or normal position, so as to be in the path of the lower catch 10. When the hook it is in this position, the arm e is permitted to be drawn up to be within the range of the cam d, but so as to receive only about one-half the stroke or vibration, this being sufficient to work the ratchet, or whateverthe means may be of communicating the power to the brush-carrier, sufficiently to simply counterbalance the tendency of the brush-carrier to carry the brushes back. In this manner the brushes are held in position by the two opposing forces, so as to maintain the current strength. Suppose now the load should be increased and the current cut down, so as to permit the armature g to recede still farther from its polethat is, from the armature-shaft a. The hook h in this case would then, under the influence of its spring at, be carried back so as to be in the path of the upper step-that is, in the path of the upper portion q of the catch on arm 6. The arm e will thus be prevented from rising far enough to be within the active range of the cam d. The pawl 0 will thus cease to engage with the notches provided therefor upon the brush-carrier and the brush-carrier will be free to move backward. This backward movement will continue until the electro-motive force is increased to bring the current to its normal strength, and consequently to bring the magnetism of the shaft Ct to its normal. WVhen this is accomplished, the armature g will be moved so as to again bring the hook h to the position shown in Figs. 5 and 6. It will be observed that the steps or parts 19 q of the catch are made separately adjustable. The cam d, though driven by power derived from the shaft of the armature, it is evident that it might be driven by any other suitable mechanical means.

The different parts of the apparatus will be adjusted to the particular machine and to the particular conditions under which the machine is to be used.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, with the shaft of a dynamo electric machine, of an armature presented thereto and controlled by the magnetic force thereof, said armature being connected with adriven mechanical device and thebrushcarrier, whereby the action of the driven mechanical device upon the brush-carrier is controlled by the movement of the said armature to maintain the current strength, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with the shaft of the revolving armature of a dynamo-electric machine, of a mechanical device in engagement therewith and connected with the brush-carrier to impart a step-by-step movement to the brush-carrier, and an armature controlled by the magnetic force of said armature-shaft, said armature being connected with a device for controlling the action of' the step-by-step acting mechanism upon the brush-carrier to maintain the current strength, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with the driven armature-shaft of a dynamo-electric machine, of a worm provided thereon in engagement with a cam-rotating device, a ratchet device adapted to be reciprocated by said cam device, and an armature within the influence of the magnetic force of the revolving shaft, said armature controlling a catch or trigger device, whereby the current strength is maintained practically uniform in response to changes in the magnetic force of the armature-shaft.

4. A driven mechanism acting upon the brush carrier in opposition to mechanism adapted to exert a constant force, said mechanism tending to move the brush-carrier backward, said driven mechanism being provided with adjustable stops p q, in combination with a magnetically-operated catch responding to changes in the magnetic force of the shaft of the armature, whereby the action of said driven mechanism upon the brush-carrier is caused to move the brush-carrier forward to counterbalance the force tending to move the brush-carrier backward or to disengage the driven mechanism from the brushcarrier to permit the same to be moved backward by said constant force, thereby maintaining practically uniform the current strength responsively to variations in the magnetic force of the shaft of the revolving armature.

5. The combination, with the brush-carrier, of the armature of a dynamo-electric machine, an armature-shaft presented thereto and tripping mechanism connected therewith, and mechanism whereby increase of the magnetic force of the armature-shaft will cause the brushes to be moved in a direction to diminish the electro-motive force, while decrease of the magnetic force of the armature-shaft will cause the brushes to be moved in a direction to increase the electro-motive force, whereby the strength of the current, and consequently the magnetic force of the armature-shaft, is maintained practically uniform, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 27th day of March, A; D. 1890.

. CHARLES E. SORIBN ER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE P. BARTON, ELLA EDLER. 

